Distributed Wireless Toy-Based Skill Exchange, Systems And Methods

Abstract

Synergistic toys and apparatus are presented. Toys are able to communicate with each other, preferably through a wireless interface. The toys can include native skills; executable instructions, representing features of the toy. When a first toy is placed within proximity of another toy, the first toy can acquire new non-native skills from the second toy or vice versa. Thus, toys can interact with one or more other toys to give rise to an enriched interactive feature set.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A toy capable of interacting with a separate device comprising:
 a computer readable non-transitory memory;   at least one processor coupled with the memory;   a device interface configured to communicatively couple with at least the separate device; and   a skill manager coupled with the memory and the device interface, and configured to:
 store a capability set in the memory, the capability set representing abilities of the apparatus, 
 acquire a non-native functionality in the form of executable instructions from the separate device via the device interface based on the capability set, and 
 cause the processor to exhibit the non-native functionality as an acquired skill by executing at least some of the executable instructions. 
   
     
     
         2 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the computer readable non-transitory memory comprises at least one of the following: RAM, flash, ROM, hard drive, and solid state drive. 
     
     
         3 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the device interface comprises a wireless interface. 
     
     
         4 . The toy of  claim 3 , wherein the wireless interface comprises at least one of the following: an audio sensor, an optical sensor, an infrared sensor, a camera, a radio, and a transceiver. 
     
     
         5 . The toy of  claim 3 , wherein the wireless interface is configured to operate according to at least one of the following: an audio protocol, a visual protocol, 802.11, 802.15, WiMAX, WiGIG, Bluetooth, wireless USB, and Zigbee. 
     
     
         6 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the capability set comprises at least one of the following computational parameters: a memory size, an application program interface, a processor capability, an operation system version, and a security capability. 
     
     
         7 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the capability set comprises at least one of the following mechanical parameters: a movement capability, an actuator capability, a mechanical tolerance, a number of uses, a mean time between failures, and a use metric. 
     
     
         8 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the capability set comprises at least one of the following audio parameters: an audio player capability, a speaker capability, and a speaker position. 
     
     
         9 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the capability set comprises at least one of the following visual parameters: a video player, a display attribute, and a light emitter attribute. 
     
     
         10 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the capability set comprises at least one additional capability derived from the non-native functionality. 
     
     
         11 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to instantiate a virtual machine, in which the processor executes at least some of the executable instructions of the non-native functionality. 
     
     
         12 . The toy of  claim 11 , wherein the virtual machine comprises a transient virtual machine. 
     
     
         13 . The toy of  claim 11 , wherein persistence of the virtual machine depends on proximity of the separate device to the apparatus. 
     
     
         14 . The toy of  claim 1 , further comprising a toy housing in which is disposed the memory, processor, and skill manager. 
     
     
         15 . The toy of  claim 14 , wherein the toy housing is sized and dimensioned to represent at least one of the following: a doll, a vehicle, a building block, a robot, an appliance, a puzzle, an animal, a stuffed animal, an instrument, an item of apparel, a game, a costume, a book, and a weapon. 
     
     
         16 . The toy of  claim 14 , wherein the toy housing at least partially houses the device interface. 
     
     
         17 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to manage a plurality of skills stored in the memory, each skill representing functionality of the apparatus. 
     
     
         18 . The toy of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of skills comprises the non-native functionality represented by the acquired skill. 
     
     
         19 . The toy of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of skills comprises at least one native functionality. 
     
     
         20 . The toy of  claim 19 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to transmit the at least one native functionality with another device over the device interface. 
     
     
         21 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to discover the separate device. 
     
     
         22 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to handshake with the separate device. 
     
     
         23 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to determine an apparatus context. 
     
     
         24 . The toy of  claim 23 , wherein the skill manager is further configured to maintain the acquired skill based on validity of the apparatus context. 
     
     
         25 . The toy of  claim 23 , wherein the skill manager alters the acquired skill as a function of changes to the apparatus context. 
     
     
         26 . The toy of  claim 23 , where the apparatus context depends on at least one of the following: an apparatus state, a state obtained from the separate device, a proximity, a location, an orientation, a time, a quantity of separate devices, a model, a make, a position, a sound, an image, a movement, a sense, and a modality of data exchange. 
     
     
         27 . The toy of  claim 23 , wherein the apparatus context depends on sensor data obtained from at least one of the following sensors: an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a compass, a magnetometer, a microphone, a touch display, an optical sensor, a biometric sensor, a proximity sensor, a vibration sensor, a mechanical sensor, a chemical sensor, a hall effect sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, a capacitive sensor, a resistive sensor, a weight sensor, a medical sensor, and an I/O sensor.